


Custodi Ignem, Custodiendam Domum (Guard the Fire, Guard the Family)

by vamprav



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s01e04 Going Rogue, M/M, Sentinel/Guide, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-11 08:04:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5619598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vamprav/pseuds/vamprav
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1994 a law that proclaimed that it was required for all children to be give the Test in order for them to go to primary school. Barry was five at the time and was a part of the first batch of children to be Tested and discovered that he was an Anchor.</p>
<p>Leonard Snart dropped out of high school and was never Tested. He had his suspisions that he was different and figured if he ever turned out to be a Guardian or Anchor if he got caught then he'd had a good run, but never wanted his name in the Database. He had no desire to be Tethered to another person for life.</p>
<p>When they first meet and Captain Cold injures Barry the younger man lets out a distress call and Leonard stops dead...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cold Freezes

Cold froze as he heard the noise. The heart wrenching sound of a Distress Call, that whining, purring, shriek of an Anchor in pain.

He'd hit the Streak. He'd hit the Streak and the other man had cried out.

The Streak had let out an Anchor's Distress Call. The Streak was an Anchor.

He'd hit an Anchor with his cold gun.

He'd hurt an Anchor.

He'd caused an Anchor pain.

Trembling, Leonard Snart lowered his gun as his brain began consuming itself in an ever repeating cycle of  _hurtanAnchorhurtanAnchorhurtanAnchor._

He was still trembling as someone took the gun away, slapped cuffs on him, and tossed him in the back of a police cruiser.


	2. Barry Discovers a Guardian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry runs Cold's blood work and finds out that the thief is a Guardian.

Barry had known that he was an Anchor since he was five and in all of the two plus decades that he had known that fact he'd only let out a Distress Call once - now twice.

He wasn't one of those Anchors who chirped at every stubbed toe. He was smarter than that and after the first time he had vowed never to let out another Distress Call.

The vow was more to protect the people around him than a hatred of being perceived as weak. The first time he Called had been when his mother died and it had been... powerful, to say the least. The Call had carried for miles and every Guardian who had heard it stopped what they were doing almost instantly. Then, they'd converged on Barry's house. Now, he'd done it again. At least this time the sound had only carried inside the theater. But then Snart had frozen, which was strange because his file said he was a Normal.

Then again, Snart had dropped out of highschool before the Test was mandatory to pre-college students. Maybe he was never Tested. So here Barry sat, waiting for Leonard Snart's blood work to finish.

He didn't have a license to administer a test, but normal blood work would show if he was a Guardian, Anchor, or Normal. He couldn't believe that no one had run it before. Then again most of Snart's record involved heists with an almost supernaturally low casualty rate, there wasn't really a need to check if Snart was a Corrupt.

The only problem was, if Snart was a Guardian they couldn't convict him. By law Guardians couldn't be put in prison because, more often than not, they'd start killing the other inmates. Which made sense since Guardians were meant to protect against all threats, internal and external.

Barry sighed and rubbed at his eyes. It had been a few hours and his side still hurt. Having slowed healing sucked, but he was still healing faster than a non-Meta so he really shouldn't be complaining.

The computer beeped and Barry printed off the results, glancing over them. With a sigh he left the room and wandered down to the interrogation room where Joe and Eddie should be. This was going to take one hell of an explanation, especially since he was currently the only Anchor in the department.

He was going to have to call the Database as well to request a Tester to come confirm. This was going to into a giant shit show, with the Database scrambling to find Snart  someone to Tether to. The man was definitely over thirty and if he didn't tether soon he ran the risk of going Corrupt. The sad part was, he'd probably Tether with the first remotely compatible person they shoved in front of him, his mind desperate for that connection.

Barry was almost envious, he hadn't had anyone compatible with ping in the Database and he was starting to feel the consequences of that. It became more and more tempting to just retreat into his mind as the days passed, and he was only twenty-five. That was bad.

If he wasn't careful, one day he'd just float off into his mindscape and never return. Being a Metahuman helped, the running tethered him in Reality. It wasn't a substitute for and actual Tether but it let him delay the inevitable call that Joe and Iris would have to make one day.

Taking a deep breathe Barry knocked on the interrogation room door. After a few seconds Eddie opened the door.

"Barry?" He asked as Barry pushed gently passed the blonde.

"Joe, I've got something you need to see."


	3. Barry Loses His Temper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry calls in some backup and loses his temper at a few people.

Barry tossed the file on to the table. "He's a Guardian. We can't convict him." He said.

"His file lists him as a normal." Joe snapped.

"He dropped out." Barry said. "So either he never took the Test or someone wiped it from the record. Either way I'm calling the Database, we need to Test him. A blood test isn't always 100%."

"What will they do after they test him?" Eddie asked.

"They'll find him a match in the Database." Barry said and turned to look at Snart.

He looked like shit. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hands were cuffed in front of him, and they'd taken his parka away. It made the man look smaller, weaker and it made Barry frown as he watched the older man shiver.

"Where's his parka?" The Anchor asked. "And why isn't he responding to stimuli?"

Eddie sighed. "He's been like this since we picked him up. Witnesses say someone let a Distress Call and he froze."

"Probably pointed his gun at an Anchor then." Barry said and swept them out of the room. "I'm calling the Database, but you are explaining this mess. You should have called me as soon as he stopped responding to stimuli."

Honestly, Normals. He knew that both of them had sat through the sensitivity training that came with police work. Oh, well, they were just going to have to sit through it again after this.

Barry made the call, waiting a second while the line connected. "This is the Database, my name is Annabel. How may I help you?" A voice asked.

"Hey, Annabel, this is Barry Allen. I need a Tester and a Waker at the Central City Police Department." Barry said as he started making his way to booking where Snart's parka most likely was. "I've got a Guardian in a Spiral that they sent to trial."

There was silence and then a lot of cursing. "Alright, what's his name?" The woman on the other end asked when she calmed down.

"Leonard Snart. He dropped out so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even show up." Barry said.

"He doesn't." Annabel said. "I'll send someone to you but we're already spread a bit thin so don't be surprised if we can only send you a Waker."

"Alright." Barry said and hung up as he reached booking. He turned to the cop behind the desk. "Give me Leonard Snart parka."

The cop laughed at the Anchor. "Yeah right, kid. The thing still needs to be looked over." He said.

Barry let out a long rattling hiss that caused everyone in the police station to stare at the skinny little CSI. People generally tried rather hard not to piss off Guardians but that was nothing compared to how hard they'd try to keep off of an Anchor's bad side. Guardians would beat you to a pulp and be done with it, Anchors got creative and tended to go for the eyes.

Most of the cops hadn't even known that Barry was an Anchor and were beginning to regret some of their life choses. Luckily Barry's Affinity had to do with the mind, a rather uncommon but somewhat useless Affinity that lent itself to logic problems and building. It wasn't like he had an Illusion Affinity or a Fire Affinity, he was just smarter than the average human.

The officer in charge of booking paled and scrambled over himself to hand the coat over. When BArry had it in hand he smiled sweetly and thanked the man before moving off back to the interrogation room not feeling the slightest bit guilty. Guardians were preprogrammed to protect the community, Anchor's protected Guardian's from the community.

When Barry returned to the room where Snart was being held it was to the sight of a stand off.

"We have to uncuff him." Eddie snapped as Barry entered. "He's a Guardian, we can't hold him."

"I'm not uncuffing him until it's confirmed." Joe growled back.

Barry shook his head as he draped the parka over Snart's shoulders. He felt slightly better about fighting the other man as the Flash now. The yelling probably wasn't helping matters though.

As he turned to tell the two cops to have there argument somewhere else he banged his hip off the table and let out a yelp with just the barest hint of a Distress Call in his voice. Hissing he cursed himself, he'd gone fourteen years without a single Call and now he'd let out two in less than a week.

He was just beginning to move from his pained position when something grabbed him from behind and dragged him into a corner.


End file.
